The project was started on pilot basis in private wards in 2015 and later extended to general wards.

The service will be introduced in the overcrowded emergency wing as well.(Representative image)

Doctors will soon get SMS and email alerts to remind them about their patients admitted to the emergency at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER).

The move will help provide timely treatment to patients and increase both discharge and admission rate at the premier institute. There are 110 beds in the emergency, but at any given time, nearly 500 patients are admitted to it. They can be seen lying on trolleys or waiting in corridors for treatment.

“The move will ensure the patients get timely treatment and are discharged on time.”— Dr Jagat Ram, PGIMER director

The project was started on pilot basis in private wards in 2015 and later extended to general wards. “The project has been quite a success as we were able to increase admissions by 18% in a month,” said Dr Navneet Dhaliwal, a PGIMER administrative official.

Dr Vipin Koushal, another official, attributed the increase in admissions to higher number of patients being discharged on time. “That was because doctors were questioned frequently through SMSes and emails about the condition of their patients,” he said.

Now, the service will be introduced in the overcrowded emergency wing as well. “When I took over as the director of the institute, at least 50 patients stayed at the emergency for over a month,” said Dr Jagat Ram. “But now I take rounds of the emergency twice a week and ensure that no patient has to overstay.”

The PGIMER director said, at the moment, not even a single patient in the emergency has been there for over a month. “To ensure the patients get timely treatment and are discharged on time, we are now going to send SMS or email alerts to the doctors concerned,” he said.